Mapping Fractional Cropland Distribution in Mato Grosso, Brazil Using Time Series MODIS Enhanced Vegetation Index and Landsat Thematic Mapper Data

Mapping cropland distribution over large areas has attracted great attention in recent years, however, traditional pixel-based classification approaches produce high uncertainty in cropland area statistics. This study proposes a new approach to map fractional cropland distribution in Mato Grosso, Brazil using time series MODIS enhanced vegetation index (EVI) and Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) data. The major steps include: (1) remove noise and clouds/shadows contamination using the Savizky-Gloay filter and temporal resampling algorithm based on the time series MODIS EVI data; (2) identify the best periods to extract croplands through crop phenology analysis; (3) develop a seasonal dynamic index (SDI) from the time series MODIS EVI data based on three key stages: sowing, growing, and harvest; and (4) develop a regression model to estimate cropland fraction based on the relationship between SDI and Landsat-derived fractional cropland data. The root mean squared error of 0.14 was obtained based on the analysis of randomly selected 500 sample plots. This research shows that the proposed approach is promising for rapidly mapping fractional cropland distribution in Mato Grosso, Brazil.